Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Tried posting this earlier today. The photo wouldn't upload on my slow internet -.- You shall all have to wait until I get home tonight to see it. Sorry for the inconvenience. Just wanted to post this so you know I didn't forget (:

9:34 pm -- Now for the wordless part!

Subconscious Fears

I am afraid of the dentist.

When I was younger, I had a monster of a dentist. My parents weren't too big on dental hygiene, so, needless to say, my teeth were pretty gross. My parents would occasionally make us brush our teeth, but the only time they really made us was right before going to the dentist (because that did a lot of good). I didn't have clean teeth; I had multiple (20+) cavities. I had to visit the dentist a lot. You might think, well, that was your own fault, if you took care of your teeth, you wouldn't have to go so often, and you wouldn't have such a bad view of the dentist. Well, I would agree with you, except for the fact that my dentist (and his staff) were pure evil.

I was scared. They wouldn't let my mom come into the back with me. Ever.  I remember the one event in particular. Once, I had to get my front baby tooth pulled because my adult tooth was coming in wrong. I was all set up with the gear- my mouth pried and propped open with metal objects and blue plastic. It's a scary set up. I was crying and one of the assistants came up to me and instead of telling me it's going to be okay and to calm down, she put her hand over my mouth, pressed down on the uncomfortable contraption, and told me to "shut up!" My sister and I always told my mom that the dentist is scary, and that we don't want to go back; they're not nice. My mom always thought we were just being kids until I told her what happened that last time. We never went back.

So, going back to the topic of this post, I am now what I believe to be subconsciously afraid of the dentist. I'm at a new dentist now, obviously, and I haven't had cavities in forever (I learned my lesson finally). Last year though, I had one cavity, my first in I don't know how long. I thought, no big deal. I'm an adult now. I can go to the dentist just fine. That's what I thought. I sat in the chair and as soon as the lady started putting the numbing agent in my mouth I started, what I can only guess is, hyperventilating. Tears formed in my eyes and I started breathing very quickly- gasping for air. It didn't hurt at all, I just got scared for some reason. She asked if I was alright, and I apologized to her, because there was absolutely nothing to be getting upset about. As the dentist was working on my cavity, I had to sit there and focus on staying calm and keeping my breathing even.

Have you ever experienced anything like this? Where you're afraid of something, but you feel pretty silly for being so? I have never had a huge problem with this dentist, but I started freaking out for no reason. I can only guess that I have a subconscious fear of the dentist working on my mouth. I can go in for cleanings no problem, but mention cavities and I'm about ready to cry. You can bet that when I have kids, they will have clean mouths!

Wordless Wednesday

My Own Little Slice of Italy

As a lot of you probably already know, I had my first experience with food photography last week. I got another bite off of my ad on Craigslist! Dupree, the owner of Slice of Italy called me up to do some photos for his restaurant. They are going to start doing online ordering and needed pictures of their menu items. I was more than happy to help- I let them know it was my first time doing food, and they were okay with that. It was a really fun experience!

Slice of Italy has been open for about two years now. They serve all sorts of Italian food- the basics (pizza and pasta), but they also have delicious appetizers (mozzarella sticks, calamari, etc.) , sandwiches, chicken, lasagna, calzones, salads, and don't even get me started on the desserts! I had heard of this restaurant before he contacted me, but I've never eaten there before. The staff was extremely nice and, to my knowledge, didn't mind being photographed at all (: I got the honor of eating the lasagna after shooting it. It was BOMB. I will definitely be returning there when I'm "off duty".

The chefs were making the food just for the photos, so there was a lot of food just waiting to be eaten. When I was all done for the day, they loaded me up and I took dinner home to Chris' roommates and my family. Everyone loved it!

I can only hope that I did their food justice. I remember telling the chef "You're the artist here; I'm just photographing your work." And he really is an artist. The food looked soooo good. We did a few different shots of each item. I took picture of the food in the kitchen and then on a table we decorated. I know... I need to work on my decorating skills... but I'm a photographer, not an interior decorator! Haha, I don't really think it looked that bad. And as for the photography, I think it looks quite good for my first time. After he called me I did so much research. Hopefully it shows! You can see a few of them here at my new website.

To wrap it up, the food is delicious, the staff are fantastic, and the owner is great. And now my stomach is growling from staring at that picture of lasagna for too long...

If you are craving Italian food, I highly recommend Slice of Italy!